Leftist protesters decked out in hard hats, bike helmets, goggles, gloves, and other riot gear marched through downtown Austin on Saturday evening, but didn’t instigate violence and failed to attract a substantial following.
The mostly white group of marchers bore characteristics of Antifa, a left-wing political movement (not a coherent organization) known for anti-capitalist rhetoric, aggressive protest tactics, and red-and-black insignia and clothing. At least one protester carried an Antifa flag.
Three Antifa-affiliated suspects were arrested Friday in Austin after a joint FBI/APD investigation into the looting of a Target last weekend. Ahead of Saturday’s protest, the Mike Ramos Brigade, a group that helped organize the march, released a video on Youtube and a statement through a communist blog, justifying the looting of the Target and calling for a “rebellion against the racist and violent police in Minneapolis, all around the US, and the world.”
Other protesters unaffiliated with the Mike Ramos Brigade demonstrated separately at the APD headquarters and Capitol, and in some cases confronted those whom they thought had non-peaceful intentions. The protesters dispersed around midnight.
A far larger gathering of protesters emphasizing peaceful intentions took place on Sunday afternoon at Huston-Tillotson University, an historically black college. The “Black Austin Rally and March for Black Lives” started at the university and then marched to the Capitol.
According to Austin Justice Coalition, the organizer, the rally was open to all people but it centered “Black voices, Black stories, and Black solutions.” Austin Justice Coalition has called for ending police brutality and defunding the police but has not backed violent protest tactics to achieve those ends.
Several times over the past few days Austin Police have knelt or marched alongside protesters or offered other signs of solidarity, removed riot gear, and used other tactics to help defuse tensions.
Austin Police came under criticism at City Hall for the tactics that they used to disperse protesters from I-35 on May 30-31. Several members of the Council said Friday that they lost confidence in Police Chief Brian Manley.
